


Tale of the Signless

by TellerOfTales



Category: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures
Genre: Ancestors, Ancestors Era, Canon, Headcanon, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-08
Updated: 2016-01-24
Packaged: 2017-12-31 20:10:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1035892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TellerOfTales/pseuds/TellerOfTales
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>History is reserved for the winners. Myth is what is reserved for the losers. You can decide who won and who lost in what you are about to read in this: the Tale of the Signless.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Rule of Blood

**Author's Note:**

> So I love the tale of the signless but there's not much for it so here's this monster, or what I can only imagine will be a monster. I will be following the canonical timeline from the wiki as best I can while fleshing things out. That being said yes this will have a shit ton of headcanons. Also I don't have a beta reader so feel free to tell me if you see something that needs to be fixed. Constructive comments are appreciated. For obvious reasons I will be changing the ratings and relationships and stuff later on but I'll do that when we get there. All that being said I hope you enjoy and if you have questions my tumblr is http://the-teller-of-tales.tumblr.com/

Deep in the caves of Alternia, out of the harsh sunlight, Mother Grub was going into labor. All the jade bloods, masters and apprentices had gathered around to witness this birth. Priestes had foreseen the birth of a fuchsia grub in a dream bubble. When the sun was at its peak, Mother Grub started the birthing process. When all was said and done, Priestes carried the tiny future queen to the waiting jade bloods, waiting to bask in awe at the one in a millennium event they had witnessed.

Thus was born Her Imperial Condescension, as she would come to be called later. Joy filled the caves of the jade bloods during those first six sweeps with the tiny fuchsia blood. Priestes herself was in charge of caring for the grub as she was the eldest jade blood. Celebrations were held every sweep on the day of the grub’s birth. On the day she lost her grub limbs she was placed in the salt water pool for sea-dwellers to facilitate gill development. 

The day before the grub was to leave the caves Priestes had a vision she shared with no one. A vison filled with fear and darkness. Screaming was all she heard in the back ground. In front of her was a jade blood with a mantle like her’s bent crying over a body she couldn’t see. Looking around for a clue to the meaning of the dream bubble Priestes saw a sunset, the brightest red she’d ever seen at the bottom, almost blocked out by fuchsia above. 

That night saw Priestes leave with the fuchsia blood on their journey to the lusis of the young troll, Gl’bgloyb. Priestes had always been taught that Gl’bgloyb had been around since the dawn of Alternia. She also knew that Gl’bgloyb would only take fuchsia blooded trolls to watch over. No one, jade blood or otherwise knew why. Priestes only hoped that Gl’bgloyb would raise this new queen as well as she had the last one. 

Sadly that did not happen. By her 10th sweep The Condesce had instituted harsh new laws for the trolls of Alternia with threats of releasing the Vast Glub or allowing Gl’bgloyb free rein on eating any lusis it could. Her new laws saw the implementation of a harsh caste system, favoring those with a cooler blood color, such as herself.  
The new laws severely restricted the rights of rust, bronze, and gold blood colors. Many were forced into physically demanding jobs or jobs that were menial. The worst that could happen, besides being executed, was to have their lusis feed to Gl’bgloyb in front of them.

Trolls of gold blood color that possessed psionic powers were given an even more terrible fate. They were taken from their lusis early one before mastering their powers. Dampeners were grafted into the skulls and they were into grafted into the computers of the Condesce’s fleet of spaceships as Helmsmen. 

Lime bloods were whipped out. None remained once she set her Subjuggulators out to get them. Of course with their blood color’s natural calming ability it had been a risky move but one that had paid off. Now there was nothing holding back her more violent high bloods.

Moving up the newly imposed caste system the jade bloods were to remain as servants to the Mother Grub as they had for eternity. Now though they were forbidden from leaving the nest of Mother Grub. All supplies were to be brought to them and grubs who had gone through their last shedding stage and who had lost the last remnants of their extra limbs from when they were a wriggler were no longer accompanied by the jade bloods to meet their lusis. 

Even higher up those with indigo blood were to join some branch of the military due to their immense strength. Those that were also gifted with high intelligence were set to word developing new weapons for the Condesce. All had the command of a spaceship filled with trolls of lower blood colors, including teal and cerulean.

The purples and violets were given places in the government, no matter their lack of qualifications. Purples formed the royal guard and the law enforcement division known as the Subjuggulators. The highest honor a violet could receive was the title of Orphaner. It was their job to search out lusii for Gl’bgloyb to eat daily.

The brilliance in the design of this system came from the lifespan differences in the different blood colors. Because trolls of the lower blood colors lived a shorter amount of time soon new trolls who had only known a life of servitude and subjugation would grow up. As such trolls with a longer lifespan had more freedom and power to exercise in their years. Loyalty sprung up in the high bloods towards their queen. Rebellions were put down, thousands of trolls executed until none could remember what life had been like before the Condesce, except one group. The one group, told to stay hidden and never leave their cave, the jade bloods. They alone remembered what life had been like. They alone kept hope in their hearts that something would change. 

None could say when that hope would come or if it even would. All word of rebellion had been squashed. None existed to fan the flames of troll’s hearts into an inferno to burn the Condesce. Her rein had been established and none could challenge her. Priestes wept daily for sweeps at what the fuchsia blood she had raised had become. She begged the universe to tell her why it had not told her sooner. She begged to see the jade blood of her vision again. The universe remained silent, it could wait forever for the right moment to reveal its plan.


	2. Dream of Jade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mainly about Dolorosa.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll cover more of Mindfang, Darkleer, GHB, and Dualscar in ch 4. Also Shrevish and Priestes are OCs so yeah. And before you say anything yes I know 'priestess' is spelled wrong but to get the 8 letter rule I took off an S so dont get your panties in a twist. And yes thar be headcanons aimed at you.

Deep in the caves of the jade bloods Mother Grub was being attended to by her loyal jade bloods. Daily they give her the buckets of concupiscent fluids delivered to the caves by imperial drones. The helped with all steps of the birth of trolls. Because they were forbidden to leave their cave system, the jade bloods had become loyal only to the Mother Grub. 

Once a week Mother Grub would give birth to three to seven wrigglers. The wigglers would be given to a jade blood who had trained to look over their specific blood color. It was only the jade blooded wigglers that did not leave Mother Grub. They would spend their first six sweeps in her nesting cave, tucked safely in her front legs. 

On this day in particular five wigglers that were destined to play a more important role in the shaping of Alternia than any jade blood could have guessed were born. The grubs were jade, cerulean, indigo, violet and, purple blooded. 

Priestes had come to witness the birth of the jade blood. Over the years she had grown bitter towards the outside world and rarely came to help with the births, only feeling grief for the lives all the wrigglers would grow up to have. However, the jade blood that had been born was the first since the birth of the Condesce. Priestes and the others could only hope it was a sign of better times to come. So while the other wrigglers were taken to their blood color’s area Priestes scooped the jade blood, Dolorosa into her arms, cooing at her. 

“Even if you don’t bring the winds of change we all shall love you. You’ve reminded us all, myself especially of our duty to Mother Grub. I can only hope that you can see how things once were, even if only in a dream bubble.” Gently Priestes set Dolorosa down in the circle of Mother Grub’s legs.

As the Dolorosa floundered about blindly between the large legs of Mother Grub the universe moved as events it had planned were starting to come to unfold. The young Dolorosa quieted down as the Mother Grub hummed a melody of love to her new charge. All was silent in the caves save for the wind whistling over holes in the ceiling to let in moon light and the whisperings of the jade bloods discussing today's gossip of the new member to their order.

Six sweeps later Dolorosa was woken up by a deep hum that she could feel from horn tip to the bottoms of her feet. She stretched and scratched her dark green scabs on her sides where her grub legs had fallen off a few nights ago. Feeling the scabs she became fully awake, remembering what losing her grub legs meant.

When a jade blood was of age to be joined with a lusis, if had she been any other blood color that is, she was given the traditional green and black robes of her order. Long ago, back when jade bloods could leave the caves, the dress had been a sigh of respect for the other trolls to know those trolls whom aided Mother Grub. Now it was just tradition without significance. With her new robes she would become apprentice to an older jade blood to learn the art of caring for young grubs of a particular blood color. The apprenticing of a new troll was a time for great celebration for jade bloods were rarer than some of the colors above them.

Instantly she combed her fingers through her hair to make it presentable to Priestes who would be over seeing the apprenticeship ceremony. Done with brushing her hair as best she could Dolorosa quietly leaned against Mother Grub to reflect on her life so far. She wondered what blood color she would be assigned to look after for the rest of her life, what jade blood she would apprentice for, how long it would be until she would be done with her apprentice ship. Each racing thought made her more and more nervous and more and more excited. 

Footsteps echoed out of a hall that lead to the nest room. Dolorosa quickly stood up and hugged Mother Grub and whispered a quick good-bye thanking her for looking after her for the past sweeps and that she would be back soon to take care of her grubs. With that she exited the protective ring of the legs and body of Mother Grub for the first time in her life.

“Ah Dolorosa, I see you are ready for your big day,” said Shrevish, a jade blood with horns that split in two towards the top. Shrevish had been sent by Priestes bring Dolorosa to the Great Hall where the apprenticeship ceremony would take place.

“Yes Shrevish! Do you have any idea who I will be assigned to?” Dolorosa asked with excitement. She shivered as they left the cozy warmth of the nesting room and hugged her arms around her nude body. Tradition stated the only outfit a jade blood wore was her black and green dress when she was apprenticed and that until she was of age for the ceremony nothing else would do.

Shrevish had a mischievous twinkle in her eye as she looked down at Dolorosa and said knowingly, “I’m not permitted to tell who you have but I can tell you that what is about to occur hasn’t happened for thousands of sweeps.”

Dolorosa gave out a frustrated sigh and rubbed her arms against her sides. They turned a corner and suddenly they were in front of a towering set of double doors inscribed with the symbol of the jade bloods in paint that seemed to give off a faint white light of its own. With the realization of how big of a deal what was about to happen was Dolorosa started to panic.

“Shrevish, what if I trip? What if I’m a disgrace to jade bloods? What if I’m a horrible mother to my grubs? What if I fail my teacher? What if-“

“Enough,” Shrevish said, cutting off Dolorosa’s fretting. “I know you will do fine. You have to be one of the most promising care takers for a number of reasons. You just need to be calm during your initiation. Tell your first ward all of what happened later. I know I certainly did.”

Opening the door before Dolorosa had a chance to argue, Shrevish pushed Dolorosa inside the Great Hall. Dolorosa almost tripped but caught herself just in time, only to almost trip over her feet as she saw where she was. Inside the Great Hall was lit with thousands of candles, all held by jade bloods. Along one wall she saw a tapestry that depicted Mother Grub with eleven jade bloods surrounding her all holding a grub of each color of the hemospectrum. Dolorosa swallowed her fear and walked down the row of candle holding trolls to where the Prestess sat on a carved wooden seat. Carefully Dolorosa knelt down and placed her hands on her folded knees and bowed her head in respect. 

The Priestes stood up, making her dress and mantel ripple around her. Gracefully she descended the steps and knelt down in front of Dolorosa and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.  
“Welcome child to the sacred heart of our blood color. You have been in the protection of Mother Grub for six sweeps now and on this day, the day you were born, it is time to repay her by helping her as only we can do.” Priestes stood up and pulled the Dolorosa with her. Priestes’s face glowed slightly in the candle light, like the paint on the door, Dolorosa noticed as she was helped up. 

“Now you are old enough to be apprenticed to someone in this room to learn how to care for a color of grub and all the responsibilities that come with it. Before we begin the ceremony I feel obligated to tell everyone of the dream bubble I bore witness to as it was about you, dear Dolorosa. In my dream I saw her shaping the future in ways that I could not comprehend. Though throughout there was a deep sadness intermixed with hope until despair swallowed everything only to be over taken by emptiness and finally nothingness. Now I will not claim that I am a dream seer but clearly our Dolorosa has been chosen by the universe for something. Knowing this I offer her to whoever thinks they can train her well for this duty and whatever awaits her.” The last words were customary as the troll had been chosen earlier and they would step forward to claim their new apprentice.

Dolorosa cast her eyes from side to side and strained her ears trying to see or hear the footsteps of her teacher. No sound was heard, not even the rustle of fabric. Dolorosa felt her stomach lurch; she knew she had been right, she was an utter failure already, and no one wanted to be her teacher. Under the gaze of Priestes, Dolorosa could feel tears trying to work their way out but she would face her humiliation with dignity she decided.

“Oh little one do not cry, for you are quite special. You will an apprentice the likes of which we haven’t had for more sweeps then I care to recount. You are to be my apprentice. So much of you fate seems to be woven into Alternia’s, that much I could glimpse in the dream bubble so I promise I shall do my best to help you before whatever is to happen to you happens,” the Priestes said as she hugged Dolorosa who was trying not to get tears on the older troll’s mantle.

A jade blood brought over a folded up set of clothes which Dolorosa recognized as her new dress but there seemed to be something underneath. Carefully Priestes helped her into her dress which was a perfect fit for her. Turning around Priestes took the last item out of the attending troll’s hands and dismissed her. It was a little mantle like the Priestes’s.

“As my apprentice it is only right you have your own mantle. For as long as you live you shall wear this to remind others of your influence on us all, wear it with pride. One day you shall take over my duties of overseeing all of the jade bloods and Mother Grub, but first we have a celebration to start!”

With that Priestes placed the mantle of jade and black with the sign of jade bloods over the head of Dolorosa. A thunderous applause broke out when Dolorosa turned around with a smile. She led the procession back out of the hall with Priestes and the other following her to give thanks to Mother Grub and celebrate her new apprenticeship.

~~~~~elsewhere~~~~

The lives of the mid blood and high bloods were filled with far less pomp and circumstance. All of them lived out their first six sweeps as any troll not born with jade blood did. They were passed from caregiver to caregiver each sweep until they lost their grub legs and were ready to be sent out to their lusii. None were given special treatment and nothing about them suggested they would all be affected by the little jade blood whom had been born the same day as them.


	3. The Journey Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Older Dolorosa. This is where our tale really starts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be about Mindfang/Darkleer/GHB/Dualscar and how they came to be the trolls we know and love so it may take me a bit longer to write it. Also I won't have a set update day or time-frame, its just when I finish the newest chapter.

Sweeps later Dolorosa was nearing the end of her apprentice ship. According to the other jade bloods she had grown into a fine young troll. Her skin had started to lighten up as happened to a majority of jade bloods signifying the transformation into a rainbow drinker. Hers was happening a bit sooner than most, however, Priestes told her not to worry about it.

As apprentice to Priestes Dolorosa’s duties were different from most apprentices. While most were assigned an age of a particular color of grub Priestes and Dolorosa helped oversee everyone and helped Mother Grub actually birth the little grubs. Then they would inspect the newborns to check for any signs of illness. If none were found they would be given to their care givers. If the wiggler was sick Dolorosa would care for it until its health improved or it passed away.

Dolorosa loved her position and because Mother Grub didn’t give birth everyday she was free to explore the caves and see all the little grubs. Her favorites were the little psionics surrounded by sparks of red and blue. One in particular seemed to be quite gifted with his. Dolorosa worried for his fate and hoped he would be able to escape enslavement into the ships of the Condesce’s fleet.

Elsewhere a little olive blood and teal blood played with other wigglers of their blood color. Neither of them seemed special other than the olive blood being a bit fiercer than normal and the teal blood willing to punish via biting grubs that had hurt another.

Dolorosa was doing her rounds towards day break as she was prone to do now that her skin could take the direct sunlight. She loved to be able to see the sun rise even if her body was exhausted after a long night of making sure everything was going smoothly. Over the sweeps she had taken over more and more of Priestes’ duties as it Priestes was starting to feel the toll of long years on her body. After her rounds, Dolorosa would write up a report and a cute anecdote about a particular grub that she would give to Priestes to read it before she got in her recuperacoon for the day.

After breakfast Dolorosa started her day. Working her way down the castes Dolorosa took notes on how well the wrigglers were growing and playing or sleeping in the puddles of sopor slime that oozed out of the walls. When she was done with her rounds to all ten other colors she would wander the tunnels of the caves.

While inspecting the caves themselves to check for weak points was one of her duties she loved it as an excuse to explore. She privately liked to imagine she had explored more of the cave than any other troll. She had even found an old, narrow tunnel that ended in a cavern in a forest. Her least favorite tunnel was the one exit. It was covered with names of young trolls who had left to go find their lusus. Priestes to her how the jade bloods used to leave with them and help but could no longer leave their caves. Now with the Condesce’s laws in place the young trolls would be sent out with a map and compass containing instructions on where to find their lusus. 

In the dark clothes of a jade blood Dolorosa wondered if she could leave when the sun was up and then come back. What would it be like outside? Would she run into another troll? Would they even remember and know her blood color existed? What would happen if she was caught? These questions and more spun around her head. Duty to the wigglers, Priestes, and her sisters prevented her from ever taking the first step out into the sun. 

She had asked Priestes a few times what life was like outside the caves before the Condesce’s rein. Dolorosa thought it sounded wonderful. The thoughts of rain, trees and animals made her long for the courage to go out, even during the day. Even when she had found the cavern that lead to a jungle she had not left the back of the cavern. After being told of the constricting caste laws she decided that the outside world was a mess. 

Returning to her chambers she wrote her report for Priestes. All of the wigglers seemed to be growing just fine. The usual amount of new bumps and scratches. Some of the older ones look like their grub legs are about to fall off. No sign of any tunnels that are about to cave in. Leaving her room she went to the door of the Priestes and was about to knock when the door was opened much to her surprise.

“Ah, Dolorosa I see you have finished your report for tonight, excellent. I was just about to send someone out to look for you. I need for you to tell Ciphress that her little teal blood, you know the one who likes to bite the others, has been chosen by Pyralsprite. An Imperial Drone just arrived with a note attached to it from a troll Pyralsprite had controlled.” Priestes said in an excited voice.

“That’s incredible,” exclaimed Dolorosa. “Hasn’t she been without a troll for hundreds of sweeps?”

“Well yes that’s why I want you tell Ciphress that her little grub is so special. Now give me your report and run along and tell Ciphress the news,” Priestes said in a rushed voice while she grabbed the papers out of Dolorosa’s hands and herded her out of the door.

With the door shut behind her Dolorosa shook her head with a snort at how childlike Priestes could be sometimes. Striding off down the hall towards the teal blood caves Dolorosa reflected on what this meant. All the jade bloods knew about the ancient firebeast lusus and how she was very selective in her chose of trolls to care for and how most of those trolls always seemed to meet an un-natural ends. Dolorosa hoped that such a fate wouldn’t come to the little teal blood in question.

Reaching the teal caves Dolorosa sought out Ciphress, who was towards the back with all the grubs that were six sweeps old and about to lose their grub legs. Ciphress happened to be standing over the little troll in question who was sleeping peacefully in a puddle of slime. 

“Dolorosa, I thought you had already made your rounds today? Is something the matter?” Ciphress asked Dolorosa when she crossed the cave to her, trying to avoid stepping on a sleeping grub.  
Dolorosa closed her eyes and took a calming breath, preparing herself to deliver the bittersweet news. “It’s about Redglare. Priestes received word about her lusus.”

“Oh that’s wonderful! Why don’t you look excited?”

“Pyralsprite has chosen her,” Dolorosa said apprehensively. 

“Oh…” Ciphress responded with a deep sigh. A look of sadness appeared on her face when she looked down at the little grub, curled up sleeping. In her sleep the little troll scratched at her scabs where her grub legs had fallen off just the other day. Ciphress had known this day would come soon but she too knew the stories of Pyralsprite’s trolls. Leaving Ciphress to her own thoughts Dolorosa left the cave.

Walking back to her room she chose to make a detour and stop by Mother Grub. Walking to the main nest where Mother Grub lived Dolorosa was surprised to see her huffing as though she was giving birth. Dolorosa quickly ran to her neck and tried petting and talking to her to try and calm her down, when that didn’t work Dolorosa went towards her tail end while running her hand along her belly to feel if it was just indigestion of that sort as it had been known to happen from time to time. Feeling nothing of that nature Dolorosa began to worry and carefully moved Mother Grub’s tail to see if there was something back there that could be causing the problem.

The main worry Dolorosa had was why Mother Grub seemed to be going into labor even though Mother Grub had given birth to a healthy set of four wigglers the previous night. As far back as anyone could remember Mother Grub had never given birth two days in a row. She had thought for a second about running to get Priestes but when Mother Grub let out a particularly painful sounding series of huffs Dolorosa knew that whatever was coming would be coming soon and didn’t want to leave Mother Grub if things went bad quickly.

Within minutes Mother Grub was done. Dolorosa was relived all it was excess birthing fluids, after birth, and genetic material. Dolorosa sighed and shook her head at Mother Grub for making her worry so much. Walking over to the carved rock shelf Dolorosa got towels to clean up the mess.

Walking back over Dolorosa noticed a florescent red color seemed predominate in the fluid. That set off alarms in Dolorosa’s head but she dismissed it as an off combination of genetic material that Mother Grub had wanted to expel. That was until a bit of it started squirming. Dolorosa quickly got on her knees to see what it was. To her surprise it was the tinniest grub she had ever seen. It was also the same florescent red of the birth fluid. On top of his head he had black hair that completely covered his little horn nubs. Checking him over as she would any other wiggler she was shocked to discover what would become gill slits of a sea-dweller. Lifting up is dark hair she was surprised to not see the ear-fins though.

Dolorosa knew immediately that she would need to protect this little grub. His blood color alone may be enough to get him killed. Having gill slits would make him like a sea-dweller, royalty. His red color though, that was lowblood. He would be seen as a freak of nature. No lusus would want him. As far as she knew there had never been a troll of his color to ever be born. 

Doing the only thing she could think of at the time Dolorosa carefully dried him off and tucked him in her sash she fashioned into a sling to carry him in. Then she buttoned her mantle in front to hide him should anyone come into the nest room or run into her on her way back to her room. 

Working quickly Dolorosa finished cleaning up the after birth, said what she knew to be her good-bye to Mother Grub and ran to her room to gather supplies and write a note for Priestes telling her that the reason she would have to leave had come and that she wished everyone the best and that she wouldn’t forget them and their teachings. Shutting her door carefully and silently Dolorosa turned around and left without looking back and tears streaming down her face as she left the only place she had ever known.

She swung a sack of food and an extra set of clothes over her shoulder and ran for the exit, wanting to get out before she lost her nerve. Once out in broad day light she promised herself that she would keep the little grub safe even if it meant her life would be forfeit. She couldn’t say why she felt that way about the mutant grub but she knew deep in her heart that he would be important for the future of trolls everywhere. So turning her back on everything she had ever known Dolorosa struck out in Alternia with her only company being a mutant runt of a grub.

It wasn’t until the sun started to set that Dolorosa realized she had left the caves and in daylight no less. “Well little one, I guess we are both in this together. I suppose I shall be your care giver and lusus and teacher if you stay with me that long,” cooed Dolorosa to the tiny grub under her robes. 

Scanning the horizon Dolorosa decided she would head in the direction of the forest she had found. She figured that the trees would offer protection and she could always learn to hunt for food if needed. At the thought of food Dolorosa realized just how ill prepared she was. At a little snuffle from the wiggler she resigned herself, she had broken the law by leaving. The wiggler was most likely breaking laws just by living. She swore to herself in that moment to protect him with her life on her duty and honor as a jade blood.


	4. Four Part Discord

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We learn about Mindfang, Darkleer, Grand Highblood, and Orphaner Dualscar. Warning: a bit of canonical violence in GHB's part w/ some blood pretty tame for what will be coming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry how long it took me to write this. also sorry that it pretty much word vomit thats had a bit of editing. i had major writers block for Darkleer and Grand Highblood so i didn't put out this chapter cause i wanted all 4 of these stories to be together. also if you spot any typos or such please let me know as i dont have a beta reader. also as winter break will be starting soon after finals i should be able to get 1 maybe *fingers crossed* 2 chapters out. idk how long but i wanna write cause i have this idea for tying events and trolls together way later so i just wanna get there. so just keep checking back.

**_Mindfang_**  
  
She was given the name Mindfang early on in her life. She had an aggressive dispossession even as a wriggler and when she discovered her psychic abilities, rare for her blood color, she wouldn’t hesitate to rip into the minds of those who bothered her, or if she wanted to control them into doing things for her she would invade their mind. The jade bloods in charge of her were almost happy when she left their care and moved into the care of another. Her final caregiver felt little heartbreak at her leaving the caves on the night of her sixth sweep.  
  
When she left she was given three things that were customary for trolls leaving the caves of Mother Grub; a black cloak (to shield them at night from the curious eyes of beasts prowling in the dark and to protect them from the rays of the sun in the day) a holomap and compass.  
  
The holomap showed a floating blue X where the troll’s lusus lived. Using the compass it was up to the troll to make it there on their own. The trials they faced were not obstacles set up by other trolls but were natural challenges such as the intense sunlight, deserts, oceans, and any number of beasts that prowled the land. Even other trolls could be dangerous for a young troll, especially those of a low blood color.   
  
The moon had just risen when Mindfang set out of the caves, not looking back. Studying her map closely she noticed her lusus’s X seemed to float over cliffs that surrounded a small bay. As far as she could tell she was quite far from where her lusus lived. While she wasn’t worried about the tourney to the sea, she was apprehensive about living so close to the sea. From what she had overheard when the jade bloods would talk the sea dwelling trolls could be particularly aggressive to land dwellers. However, Mindfang was confidant in her psychic abilities and their ability to incapacitate or control opponents Mindfang struck out towards the floating blue X.  
  
It took her half a sweep through various means to reach her destination. Stowing away on trading ships and forcing lowblood farmers to take her on their carts she made it safely to her lusus. It was during this time she honed her powers of mind control on the lowbloods she encountered.  It was also at this time when she started to develop a fondness for the high-seas and the freedom they brought. She quickly realized that blood color meant almost nothing on the oceans, out there it was truly every troll for themselves.  
  
When she made it to the cliffs she was met with a sight that surprised her. A huge web spread across the top of the crescent bay. Around the edges were lusii in varying stages of decomposition and in the center, a great white spider lusus. As soon as the lusus spotted her with its eight eyes it started to charge at her, sprinting across its web.  
  
Reacting quickly Mindfang latched onto the lusus’s primitive mind and forced it into submission. Outside the mind the lusus shuttered and crouched on its web, trying to hide from the onslaught in its mind. Sensing victory Mindfang withdrew most of her presence and her lusus relaxed. She showed it visions of her bringing it lusii to feed on while it cared for her. A soft touch wrapped its way around her mind like a spider wrapping its victim but Mindfang could tell a bargain had be struck and she was safe.  
  
Carefully she stepped onto the web and looked down. Beneath her was a respectable, sandy beach with a shallow bay. Using her Vision Eightfold she could see rocks below the choppy, dark waters. While she had been traveling Mindfang had been planning her hive and seeing her new home she knew she couldn’t have been given a more perfect location and lusus. Entering Fangsprite’s mind again Mindfang showed him her vision for her hive. Fangsprite would expand her web across the entire area of the bay. In the sheer cliff face at the back of the bay would be Mindfang’s actual hive. Stretching across the entrance to the bay would be a web that could be raised or lowered so as to fall on marauding enemy ships, belonging to sea-dwellers or otherwise.  
  
It took almost a sweep to finish construction but when all was completed and as Mindfang had pictured it, she could not have been happier. Over the sweeps she learned more about controlling the power of Eightfold sight as best she could from Fangsprite. Though, she still relied heavily on her mind controlling abilities to suit her needs.

 

Over the sweep she adapted her appearance to reflect the pirates whose ships she had stowed away on. Her old clothing she had converted into true pirate garb complete with an embroidered trench coat and a large hat with an over the top feather in the shade of her blood color. She knew many pirates were of higher blood than her but she felt truly happy when at sea and wanted all to know her blood color.   
  
Mindfang still dreamed of her days on the ships and the adventures she had seen. She made it her goal to make her own ship. With the help of Fangsprite’s terrifying presence she forced lowbloods into helping her, under the threat of having their lusus fed to Fangsprite or having their mind ripped apart of course. Being the creative nine sweep old troll she was Mindfang called this ship First Ship. As its name would imply it was not the last. More would be added until she had a veritable fleet at her command, made up of a variety of blood colors. The name given to them was the Gamblignants.    
  
Many sweeps later Mindfang added two other titles to her name. Marquise, to denote her rule over her fleet of Gamblignants. She chose that title as a tip of her feathered hat to the Condesce and also to her kismesiss, Orphaner Dualscar. While she acknowledged they were of a higher cast than her she still pirated about on the seas, their home territory. Her second name was given to her by her enemies, Spinneret. It was in reference to her vast network of spies and confidants and also to Fangsprite who gained notoriety to rival that of Mindfang's.  The spies were her personal web of information gatherers that only she knew the full extent of. Anyone against her was soon brought down by the information that always was reported to her, Marquise Spinneret Mindfang.  
  
  
**_Darkleer_**  
  
Darkleer had a far less excitable grubhood. He had always been quite strong, even for a troll in his position on the hemocaste. His name was in reference to how his mouth would be dark from lack of teeth because he would knock them out when he would flail about in his sleep as a wiggler and grub. Even with the draw backs of accidental self-harm, he used strength to his advantage while traveling to the place his lusus lived.  
  
His lusus lived high in the mountains and with his strength Darkleer was able to climb to where his griffin lusus lived. After wrestling it into submission Darkleer carved out cave systems in the mountains. All the metal he found, he careful hoarded for use in robotics later on.

Robotics were one of the few things in life he genuinely loved. He taught himself programing and would make robots strong enough to fight him, if only for a little bit until he inevitably won. He loved to fight however he had never been able to find a real challenge.

 

He would toss out the scrap arms and legs where he knew the lowbloods would find them. None of the lowbloods or even midbloods who lived in the village would come for his help he still felt a certain amount of protectiveness for them.   
  
As he grew older and bigger he was drafted into the royal guard. After sweeps in the service he was promoted to the rank of Executioner. While he respected those above him and loved the order the hemocaste imposed he still felt a bit of aversion towards killing those who couldn't defend themselves. All the lowbloods and occasional midblood he had to cull reminded him of the trolls from the village below his hive who had been too scared to ask for his help.  
  
**_Highblood_**  
  
He had been as high of blood it was possible to be without being a sea dweller. It was for this reason that a huge hippocampus chose to be his lusus. It didn’t bother to come up on land much but it did protect him fiercely from sea-dwellers who felt threatened by his blood color and would often try to kill him.   
  
When Highblood started his growth spurt it seemed it would never end. While most trolls of his caste stopped growing at around 40 sweeps and ended off around 8 feet tall without horns he continued to grow until he was over 10 feet tall not including his horns. Not only due to his blood color but also because of his size and incredibly violent nature he was drafted into service as a Subjuggulator, whose role it was to go to various villages and see that the Condesce’s laws were being obeyed.   
  
When he first started he performed his job he did it with drone-like ways, he simply did his job without emotions. Unlike many of the other Subjuggulators he took no pleasure in his job, he simply did it. All that changed when he killed his first troll.  
  
The roll of a subjuggulator is to enforce order, if that meant roughing up a couple of lowbloods it was no big deal. Highblood, or Grand Highblood as some were calling him due to his size, was doing his usual rounds in one of the villages under his watch. A rumor of a lime blood had been reached his ears and he was determined to get to the bottom. He had just received orders to kill any and all lime bloods on sight and was ready to prove his readiness to carry out orders.

 

He was doing his rounds as usually, keeping his eyes peeled for an unfamiliar troll, assuming they would be the lime blood. Stopping at a fruit stand where a cloaked figure was he arrived just in time to see the troll try to steal some fruit from a cart. He couldn’t even believe that a troll was stupid enough to steal in front of him. He could feel his heart start to beat and a purple haze started to cloud his vision.   
  
He stalked quietly over to the entrance to the ally the rust blood who had run into. Blocking the entrance with his body he saw she was stuffing her face with the fruit. The other low bloods had scattered as soon as they saw him single out the troll, he had nothing to worry about. Not that any would or could report him for anything.

   
The rust blood saw a shadow loom over her as she finished the last bite of fruit. She quickly whipped her hands on her dress and turned around. Grand Highblood leered down at her, leaning on his great mace. His mace reflected moonlight off the metal spikes imbedded in its wooden body. No blood was on them because just the sight of him with mace in hand was enough to send low blood on their knees begging to be spared. She had the nerve to take a step forward as she produced two white sticks from an elaborate bun on her head and point them at him.  
  
Hefting his mace and feeling his adrenaline pumping Highblood smiled a maniacal smile that would have sent shivers down the spines of most trolls of any caste. His face paint only amplified the horrible smile.  
  
He swung his mace before the rust blood girl had a chance to ready herself. As she tried to dodge out of the way one of the spikes of the mace caught the material of her dress which was a bright, lime green,  _a color no troll of her caste should be wearing_ , Highblood thought to himself. As it caught her dress the spike also sliced into her stomach and slammed her onto the ground.  
  
She lay crumpled on the ground with her arms wrapped around the wound trying to stop her blood and intestines from spilling out. For a moment Highblood stopped to stare at the blood that dripped off the spikes.  
  
As it dripped something connected, or disconnected depending on the point of view, in Grand Highblood's mind. He saw beauty in the color of the blood, even if it was rust red. He imagined the pictures he could make with it, the ways he could get it. Oh yes the endless ways he could get blood, how those thoughts delighted him.   
  
Those thoughts filled his mind as he hefted his mace, planning on smashing the skull of the troll. As he brought it down there was a bright red flash of light and a popping noise, the troll was gone. On the grown where she lay was a drawing of a hand giving him the middle finger. Something with in him snapped and he bellowed his rage as he swung his mace in the drawing until the stones cracked under the onslaught.  
  
When he emerged from the alley he was covered in a fine mist of blood from swinging his mace around. Only silence greatest him in the street, no troll or lusus or beast was in sight. All Highblood could do though was howl his bloodlust, waning just one troll to have been out so he might have killed them.   
  
With no troll in sight to take his anger out on Highblood stalked back to his hive. Once there he retreated to his visiting room where his underlings would come to him with their reports. He carefully dragged his fingers along one of the bloodied spikes. He dragged his fingers along the wall to the side of the door. Two parallel lines of red now stuck out in the grey walls of his hive. The red consumed him and compelled him to make more marks on the wall until no more blood remained on the mace.  
  
Sated for the moment he walked over to his chair and leaned his mace on the side. Sitting down heavily he looked at his handy work. From his angle he could see the blood lines clearly. It made him proud and angry, proud he had done his job, angry he had somehow lost the girl. From that moment on he swore to himself he would do anything in his power to find that girl and kill her properly.  
  
It was that promise to himself that drove Grand Highblood to the edge on insanity. From that perilous state of mind though he became the most feared, powerful, and respected Subjuggulators to ever have lived.  
  
As he aged his walls became a technicolor of blood splatters. He was only missing the fuchsia of the Condesce and the purple of his own caste. Though unknown to everyone there were two small circles behind his chair, now a throne, reserved for those two colors should the need ever arise. His favorite colors were the lime and violet. The lime because it would remind him of the successful campaign to wipe out all of them. The violet because it enforced the need for absolute loyalty to their ruler, even in the high bloods.   
  
**_Dualscar_**  
  
The first name given to him as a wiggler had been swallowed by the void of time. He had been renamed Dualscar by the jade bloods when he was a grub, still in their care and he had been hurt when he and another troll had been fighting. As he grew his two jagged scars were a defining feature on his face.  
  
Other than his blood color nothing was particularly special about him. He was never a particularly gifted tactician, inventor, healer, or anything else. Even so his blood color blessed him with the ability for trolls to ignore all that and so he was taken to be a part of the queen's court and mounted guard early in his life along with his seahorse lusus.  
  
It was with the help of his lusus he gained notoriety. Their agility in the sparing and jousting matches gained him favor with the queen. More than once he would spot her watching him as he trained in the courtyard of her hive.  
  
When her old Orphaner died Dualscar was hand-picked by the queen to have the title next. It would be his job to kill the lusii of enemy trolls so that the Condesce’s own lusus may feast on their flesh.  
  
It was on these hunts that Orphaner Dualscar met Mindfang. He immediately found her lack of respect for those of a higher caste both an insult and a turn on, not many dared to openly challenge him and it was refreshing when they did, so he became her kismesiss. The hunts were also where he fostered his hatred towards the lower castes. He found their lack of will power to be disgusting. Despite his hatred toward them there was a part that he tried to keep hidden from even himself that was jealous of how simple it seemed for them to be able to form relationships with other trolls without having to worry too much of how the rest of a court would take it. He supposed it was a trade-off, hard lives for better relationships or easy lives for horribly complicated relationships.


	5. Three Steps Forward

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha did i say by winter break. what i meant to say was i would get hella bad writers block for like 2 years all the while feeling really bad about having writers block. Come this November one of my friends would convince me to do NaNoWiMo. Well then i would look at the timeline on the Ancestor's page on the wiki and i would realize i still hadnt written about 3 of the characters who are alive at the point we're at now and feel really dumb for not writing that yet. That brings us to today where i wrote 2777 words in one day.  
> I'm happy to say I know where I'm going now and hopefully there wont be another big break.  
> In this chapter there is quite a bit I added. Not all of it is headcanon for me but it was just stuff I wrote to develop the story/characters. I have a tag on my writing blog of ideas so i know what all i want to include besides my headcanons and other random stuff that pops into my mind.  
> So on with the story and all that. Please leave constructive comments, I would love to know what you think.

**_Psiioniic_ **

_Fear and hate your powers,_ that had been the first thing he learned in the world outside of the caves. Hide them, don’t let them ever be known. Horrible things will happen if they find out about your powers. He had seen the piss bloods whose powers had been known when he’d been sneaking through towns. He knew what would happen if he was caught.

Drugged with a combination of sopor slime and mind honey they were put to work using their psionics “for the greater good”. Of course those were the lucky ones. He would pass by slave markets sometimes and see high bloods searching for very powerful piss bloods. They were taken and, as far as he understood from what he had overheard, would be forced into service for the Condesce’s fleet of star ships.

So he hid as best he could. He lived closer to the forest than the town when he had found his lusus. He never used his psionics in the town. When the trolls in the village realized he was a piss blood without psionics they began to tease him mercilessly. Some of the rust and umber bloods were decent to him. They probably felt happy for him, he would never know the life of a piss blooded slave, drugged to his freakish, double horns.

Little did anyone know how it pained him to hide his power. Debilitating migraines so intense he could not do anything for days on end. Power pounded away behind his eyes and up and down his horns until it would explode out. The older he got the more his powers grew. The time between the bursts got shorter and they became more intense. He had seen psionics who could hardly lift firewood, he was decimating trees without thinking.

 Trolls had noticed the circles of burnt trees that were appearing in the woods. He had heard rumors about strange lights in the forest, he knew it was him. The few in town who knew him knew he lived close to the forest and would ask if he had seen anything. He always said no. One day he heard a high blood was coming to investigate. He all but stopped going into town.

 That night he packed all he could carry, planning on running away. A sack of food, a traveling cloak, sopor slime, and a change of clothes. When the moons set he said good-bye to his lusus and turned into the forest, leaving his childhood home behind.

 As he traveled down the dusty forest path he hoped he could get far enough away by the time the sun set to have out run whatever high blood was coming. He made a promise to himself to try and control his power more and train himself to use them. He was done living in fear.

 So wrapped up in his own thoughts he did not hear the rattling of the approaching cart until it was too late. The cart halted as it drew up to him. Out stepped a violet blood with a dark cloak obscuring his face.

 His hand rested on a dart gun that housed a yellow-green mixture that made Psiioniic very warry. He had seen those before in the slave markets. It was a mixture of sopor slime and mind honey that improved a troll’s psionic ability while making them more docile and meek.

“Well, well what do we have hear? A piss blood returning home from a long day of work?” Psiioniic couldn’t believe his misfortune, wasn’t his power curse enough.

 “Yes, sir,” growled out Psiioniic.

 The high bloods hand shot out and roughly grabbed him by the chin, jerking his head up and exposing his throat. “Now, now that’s no way to talk to your superior. Where is your master, it seems he has been slacking in your discipline. As a matter of fact, where is you collar?” The violet blood’s other hand drifted down to his dart gun and removed it from its holster.

 “Come, come tell me everything and I’ll go easy on you. After all I don’t want to damage someone else’s property.”

 “I belong to no one. I have no powers. No one wants me,” Psiioniic said. “Sir,” he added as an afterthought.

 “Haha, no powers,” laughed the high blood. Psiioniic was starting to become very nervous. He could feel the pounding in his eyes start to beat harder.

 “I can smell the ozone of your psionics on your filthy clothes. That you would try to lie to one so far above you is insulting. I don’t know how you got out of you collar and away from your master but rest assured, I’ll be sure you are returned to them safe and sound.” With a click the high blood fired the dart gun.

 At the click Psiioniic’s powers erupted, ripping the barbed dart from his side and blowing the high blood back against a tree. The drug was fast acting though. The sopor slime started to kick in and Psiioniic crumpled to the ground, horns still sending out bolts of red and blue electricity.

 The high blood slowly got up off the ground and warily limped over to the spasming body of Psiioniic. Keeping an eye on the strange double horns he reached into his cloak and withdrew a psionic’s collar. Quickly he slammed it shut around the piss blood’s neck. Immediately the sparks on his horns died down.

 “I can see why you hid, filth. In a few years I’d say you’d be ready for the job of a Helmsman, if you power keeps growing. But why would hide, it is the most prestigious job a low blood like you could ever hope to have. Too bad you tried to run. If you’d stayed who’s to say if I’d found you.”

 The high blood roughly kicked Psiioniic in the head, causing him to fall unconscious. Snapping his fingers the violet blood’s rust servant gathered up the body and put him on the floor of the carriage. The high blood got in and shut the door. His mission had been far easier than he had anticipated.

 

~~~later~~~

 

The high blood, whose name was Kriporch as Psiioniic soon learn, ended up getting the promotion and was able to keep Psiioniic. He been delighted to find out that the piss blood was not already someone else’s slave.

 The first months had been a never ending nightmare for Psiioniic. He could hardly put a thought together with how much sopor slime he was injected with. He forgot of his life before Kriporch. He brought him food, gave him clothing, gave him blankets to keep him warm, at least as long as Psiioniic pleased him.

 Psiioniic hadn’t known how to please him at first. The sopor slime made it all easy to obey though. Kriporch would whisper something in his ear and it would sound wonderful to Psiioniic. The promise of food or water or another thin blanket was all the encouragement he needed.

 A hand would ghost over his neck. _What was on his neck?_ Psiioniic didn’t know, it had been beaten into him to never tough his neck. _Did it matter what was on his neck?_ Kriporch wanted something moved or something built. Psiioniic would do it for his beloved Master. Nothing made him happier than the satisfied smile that would appear on Kriporch’s face when he did something right.

 Soon Kriporch decreased the sopor slime to mind honey ratio, wanting his slave’s psionics to develop more. He could not have been more pleased. His training had stayed and the troll’s power increased. All the while the dumb grin would stay plastered on Psiioniic’s face.

 Kriporch was actually sad at the idea he would have to give up his wonderful slave. He had put so much effort into training him that it would be a shame to see him leave. He knew he would have a few more sweeps with the troll though. Even then, there would be a test for the slave to pass before he would become a Helmsman and if he failed he would return to Kriporch’s house.

****

**_Disciple_ **

 

When first setting out to find her lusus she had been thrilled. The X on her holomap showed her lusus living in a cave deep in a forest. Armed with nothing more than her wits the young troll looked at her compass and struck out.

 Her journey had been difficult. Out running slavers and bandits who took her youth to mean she would be easy to catch had been terrifying the first few times. Then she made it a game for herself to try and outwit them and steal their supplies.

 She re-fashioned her clothes to be better suited for her forest environment. Stripes of green to break up the black helped her blend in with the shadows of the trees in her domain. She got the idea from her lusus, a great striped growl-beat. While it was predominantly white like all lusii it had dark green stripes to help it blend in.

 The troll had made its cave into her hive, rather than built her own from scratch. She lined the floors with the pelts of beasts she and her lusus had killed. Hunting was how she lived and made her living.

 There was a small village not far from her cave where she could trade skins and meat for items it was hard for her to come by. It was at the market she saw the way low bloods were treated. While she herself was not terribly high, rust and umber bloods would still bow to her as she passed. A few times blue bloods had even told her she should look into purchasing one to help her carry the pelts she brought to trade.

 Having been self-sufficient all of her life the troll could see no reason to. She had learned by watching the beasts, do what you need to do to survive, don’t do more than necessary, and conserve strength. She would laugh off the high blood’s comments and say no low blood could keep up with her pace and didn’t want to be slowed down by them. They would laugh in return and say she had a fair point.

Few knew her name for she did not speak much to those in the village. Living in the forest, away from the village, had given rise to stories about her. A wild troll who could talk with beasts. A wild troll who would eat young trolls that wandered too far into the forest. A wild troll who would come to the village riding her huge lusus and trade the skins of the monsters they had slain. She never bothered to tell the village trolls her name or dispel the rumors.

She enjoyed her life in the forest. It was peaceful. The seasons would come and go in a steady rhythm that she learned to anticipate. She learned what plants were edible and which to avoid. She found a hot spring where she could bathe, even in the winter. She found a lake well stocked with fish. 

Sometimes, in her hot spring or in her cave, she would feel lonely. She envied the other trolls she saw in the village, holding hands or sharing a quick kiss. She could only hold one sided conversations with her lusus so many times. No one had ever piqued her interest though and she couldn’t imagine settling for just anyone, in any of her quadrants. So she resigned herself to wait for her perfect matches.

**_Redglare_ **

Redglare had known something was up when her guardian had given her compass, holomap, and cloak. The jade blood had hugged her fiercely and wished her to live a long and happy life. Ciphress fastened the cloak around her shoulders and gave her another hug before holding her at arms-length and sighing heavily. Redglare took a few steps back, exiting the cave and its protection.

Glancing behind her before the cave disappeared from her sight for good Redglare could see Ciphress still there, in the mouth of the cave. Shaking her head Redglare looked at her map and compass, altered her course slightly and continued on.

Her journey had not been as difficult as some trolls experienced. Her blood granted her the right to demand aid from those below her, even though she was far younger than many of the trolls she met. She ended up reaching the city near her lusus’ X in less than a week.

Striking out into the city had been the most exhilarating thing in Redglare’s short life up to that point. It seemed as though all the sights, sounds, smells, and trolls that the world had to offer had been gathered there for her to experience.  

She stopped at the first food stall she saw and ordered a sweet snack. As she was waiting for it to be fried another troll came up to the stall and bumped into its side, hard.  She saw the trolls hand shoot out and grab a roll from the display and disappear into its cloak.

“Thief!” Redglare cried out, pointing to the troll who tried to flee at her cry. Redglare was too fast though and dove on the troll. The owner of the stall turned to see the cloaked troll trying to get away from the young troll wrapped around his waist.

The owner came around from behind her stall and smacked the thief between the eyes with her wooden spatula, stunning him. She then a length of twine from her apron pocket and tied up his wrists.

“Your snack’s on me for today. Thank you for catching him,” said the owner.

“Oh it was no problem. I didn’t think it would be fair for an honest olive blood like yourself to be stolen from,” replied Redglare.

“With that attitude you should look into becoming a legislacerator. We could use more honest trolls like you young miss. I’ll tell you what, if you become a legislacerator, I’ll give you free sweet rolls for life.” With that the olive blood handed Redglare her roll.

Taking a bite Redglare nodded happily. “If your rolls stay as good I’ll definitely do it.”

With that Redglare continued her journey through the city. She passed trolls in a variety of hues, rust to purple. She was surprised at the veritable fleet of servants or slaves some of the high bloods seem to have.

She spent the whole night in the city and only as the sun was rising did she reach the forest where the X on her holomap hovered. Looking around she saw nothing to indicate signs of her lusus.

A great whoosh of air spooked her, causing her to stumble and fall to the ground. She rolled over and there it was, her lusus, a _firebeast._ She gaped, slack jawed as its eyes bored into hers. It lowered its head and she clenched her eyes shut, preparing to be eaten or set aflame. Neither happened, his snout touched her forehead and she felt Pyralsprite’s feelings pass into her mind and hers pass into the lusus.

Over the sweeps their mind touches became more and more developed. They could even pass messages without physical contact as they practiced more and more. Redglare could feel how vast Pyralsprite’s mind was and loved how intelligent her lusus was. However, she could sense that Pyralsprite was keeping things from her. What those things were Redglare did not know.

One of the first things Pyralsprite conveyed to Redglare was not to tell other trolls what her lusus was. Redglare couldn’t figure out why but heeded her lusus’ warning anyways. It didn’t pay to be on the bad side of a lusus as big as hers, regardless of the sharpness of their fangs or their ability to breathe fire.

Also as the sweeps passed Redglare did indeed become as legislacerator and was a regular at the olive bloods food stall. Because she was still so young and had only just finished her training the title Neophyte had been added to her name.

Some of her colleagues teased her for never having bought a servant but Pyralsprite’s need for secrecy trumped fitting in with others of her caste. Even then Redglare never felt a strong desire to own another troll. She didn’t see the benefit from having to pay for the upkeep a servant or slave. She saw value in the idea of very troll for themselves, but she kept those ideas to herself, they weren’t the type of thoughts for an up and coming legislacerator to be having.  


	6. No Way to Turn Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dolorosa and wiggler find a new home.

The first few weeks of her new life outside of the caves had been hard on Dolorosa. Not only did she have to fend for herself, she had the wiggler to look after. It seemed every time she set him down and turned her back to him he would crawl off. Frantic searching would find him behind a rock not far away though that did not ease Dolorosa’s worry. 

Looking at the map she had taken with her Dolorosa realized how difficult it would be to reach the forest as she had planned. Where it had taken her a full day of climbing up and down would take her weeks. She hadn’t noticed the change of elevation but her caves were at the base of large cliffs and she had climbed her way up it, to the top, through the winding tunnels. A small village was marked on the map near the base, but long way off from her caves. A road ran through it that snaked up the face of the cliffs to the top where it split, forks leading to more villages.

Dolorosa chose not to follow the path, not wanting to run into any other trolls. Therefore, the hardest part had been fighting off the lusii that hid in the tall grasses. They seemed to be drawn to the little wiggler. Dolorosa found herself constantly on edge with fear of being attacked by trolls or lusii. Her nerves were run ragged and their food supply was dwindling at an alarming rate. Dolorosa had been starting to weigh the option of becoming a fully-fledged rainbow drinker to save the food for the wiggler. 

The only problem with that option would mean exposing herself to trolls who may report her. So she went with as little food as she could and stayed off the main road. No point in tempting fate any more than I have, she told herself. However, fate is a fickle creature and decided it wanted to force her hand, to see what she would do.

It was night time, Dolorosa had taken to sleeping at this time and journey on in the day when the chance of seeing another troll was slim. The wiggler, she had yet to figure out a name for it and no sign existed for his color as far as she knew, was fast asleep. Dolorosa smiled fondly at the little thing, curled up in her mantle. She was surprised at how quickly he had adjusted to sleeping in the dark  
She stood up and put out their fire, not wanting for its light to attract unwanted attention. Walking behind a nearby tree she relieved herself. She then went back to the wiggler, hating to leave him for even a moment. He was still fast asleep, then she heard a rustle in the grasses and caught a flash of white, lusus.

Quickly she ripped up grass and covered the wiggler with it. She knew it would do nothing but it made her feel like she had offered him some form of protection. She padded off in the direction she had heard the growls as quietly as she could, promising the wiggler she’d be back soon.

Following trampled grass she was nearing her prey when she heard the wiggler’s squeaky cries of distress. Immediately she lost all interest in the lusus and sprinted back to her campsite. When she neared it she could hear two voices talking. Crouching down she slowly inched closer and peered through the grass.

“Look I’m saying this mutant freak of a wiggler’s blood will fetch a higher price than the cerulean blood of that cacklebeast we were tracking,” said a green blooded troll to his companion.   
“That may be true but I say we just sell him alive. That way people could get meat out of it if they want to. Or they can skin it. Sell it alive and they can use it however they want,” replied the blue blood. The wiggler in question was squirming and squeaking to let his displeasure be known as the green blood held him upside down by a hind limb. 

Dolorosa felt her blood boil at the thought of this little wiggler being sold off to the highest bidder. It wasn’t fair. She had not come this far only for fate to be this cruel to him. She had fled with him so that he may escape this fate. What would the point of her having left the caves if he still ended up being killed?

Disregarding the possibility of the two trolls carrying weapons she sprung out of her hiding spot with a hiss. The two trolls were so surprised the green blood dropped her charge. Dolorosa flew at him and bit hard into his neck. It was the first time she had tasted fresh troll blood as a rainbow drinker. 

The flavor on her tongue was amazing but she had one more troll to finish. The blue blood had taken off at the sight of his companion’s neck being savaged. He was not fast enough to outrun Dolorosa’s anger. She bleed him dry too. She rationalized killing the two as protection. No one must know of her or her wiggler.

Wiping the blood from her lips she headed back to her camp site. The little wiggler was huddled under her mantle, peeping softly. Dolorosa smiled to herself. Peeping in any wiggler was a demand for food. She searched the body of the near-by green blood and was happy to discover a water skin and a hunk of loaf.

Cradling the wiggler to her chest Dolorosa fed it tiny bites as she made her way in the direction the blue blood had run off to. Dolorosa had a feeling that if they were indeed traders of some kind they would have a cart with supplies. Reaching the body of the blue troll she took his food as well, no point in passing up a good opportunity. 

She did find their cart, on the road, which she was trying to avoid. She had reached a dilemma, the cart had more than enough items and a hornedbeast to pull it, however, running into trolls was much more likely on the road. 

So she did what she felt was best. She took what supplies she could; food, fabric, water, tools, and a few pillows. Then she cut the hornedbeast free of its traces and let it go, no point in having it in their cave. After one last check to make sure she had taken everything from the cart she wanted, she lit it on fire. Her final judgment on those that would hurt her charge. 

So she continued on her journey. Walking day after day until she reached the outskirts of the village at the base of the cliffs. There was only one path that lead up the cliff, she would have no choice but to use it and pass any troll who would be on it. Dolorosa took a full day to plan how she would tackle that challenge. 

No matter when she started the trek, she would run into at least one other troll. Gazing up the cliffs she could see dark blobs moving up and down. She decided to follow the pattern she had been, start moving as soon as the moons went down that way she would have all of the day time to get as close to the top as possible and hopeful most trolls would be sleeping. Her one challenge would be not waking any up as she passed and going slow would take more time.

As soon as the moons started to set she was off. The wiggler was strapped securely to her chest in his sling. Her mantle was buttoned all the way to the top. She was taking no chances that he would be seen. Her only worry was he would make noise or get too hot but him staying out of site took precedence. 

Fate must have been trying to apologize, the few trolls Dolorosa did pass were all asleep and the wiggler never even peeped once, much to her relief. Once at the top of the cliffs she left the road once more. Looking at her map she took off in a south-westerly direction, towards the cave she had found. 

The forest got denser and denser the closer she got to her cave. Dolorosa saw it as a blessing though, hopefully it would deter other trolls from venturing too near. While she did not want to shelter him for his whole life she couldn’t risk meeting other trolls until he was older. She had already killed to protect him and wouldn’t hesitate to do so again, so strong was her conviction that he needed to be protected.

A break in the trees found Dolorosa at the entrance to the cave. She had never seen its outside and was impressed by its beauty. Vines hung in front of the entrance, a small stream trickled down its face and disappeared into the rocks, a patch of berry bushes were growing off to the side. The vines she could train to cover the entrance entirely to shield them. The water looked clear and cool, perfect for drinking. The berries provided ready to eat food. 

Once she had gotten the wiggler fed, they headed towards the back of the cave. It was longer than it was wide but had a few places with natural shelving and the celling was very high up. There were even areas of celling that must have caved in at some times because moonlight shown in, providing more light.

At the back Dolorosa found the narrow crack she had come through when she had first found the cave. She set down the sleeping wiggler near-by and with a heavy heart, started a job she had told herself she must do. She started to block up the entrance with loose rocks. If she had found this cave by wandering around it stood to reason that someone else may too and she would not let that happen. Sealing the fissure took the better part of the night so for the first time in many weeks Dolorosa went to sleep as the suns were rising, curled up with her charge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I fully realize this is word vomit, however, I would like to think its somewhat quality word vomit. I have no beta and I'm doing this for NaNoWiMo and I have finals coming up. So editing will be happening later, when I have time. I do have more ideas for what to write so more will be coming. I passed 420 hits so we have all blazed it and I want to thank you all. I would love read your comments and see what you have to say.


	7. Big Brave World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Little Signless is growing up but he's still a little fish in a big ocean. What's a little fish to do on his first trip out of the shallows. Signless and Dolorosa are currently at the same point in time as the endings of the vignettes of chapter 5.

Dolorosa reflected on her past six sweeps with the strange colored wriggler she had taken in as he ran around, getting used to using two legs and walking upright. Sometimes it had seemed time was going as slow as it could, drawing out her worries of being found. Other times it went far too quickly, she would blink and he had grown even bigger, not knowing when and how it had happened.

More and more he asked to leave the cave if only for a few minutes and just a short distance. “I’ll stay where you can see me, promise,” he would say. “Stay here where it’s safe,” she would say. She had never let him go out. He had never known the moon on his skin or the wind through his hair or the water through his gills.

 Oh his gills! They were her second biggest worry after his blood color. Who ever heard of land dwelling troll with functional gill slits? She knew they must never be seen by any other living troll. That had been a lesson she had firmly ingrained in him.

Dolorosa looked up from her sewing to where Signless, as she had taken to calling him, was drawing on the cave wall. Trolls of every blood color had been drawn in the child’s art. One thing that had intrigued Dolorosa had been the number of trolls of his color he had drawn.

“Little one, why have you drawn multiple trolls of the same color but only one with your blood color?” Dolorosa had asked.

“I’m the only one like me in the whole world!” He had responded with a smile that broke her heart.

Tying off the final thread Dolorosa stood up and walked silently to her charge and scooped him up. Signless shrieked in delight as she spun around and tossed him in the air.

“Try these on, a troll should be well dressed on the anniversary of their sixth sweep,” said Dolorosa holding out the garment. She turned around to give him privacy to change.

She smiled to herself as she heard grunting as he pulled the legging like piece of clothing on. Then came the tell-tale swish of his new cloak.

“Ok. You can turn around now. Thank you,” he said in a delighted voice.

“Well you look wonderful for your first day in town,” exclaimed Dolorosa as she searched for her bag and items she was bringing to trade.

“Wait, I can come with you into town?” Signless was speechless with shock. He had asked just the day before, and had been firmly told no.

“I can’t expect you to stay here all your life now can I. Before we go though, there are rules you _must_ follow, no matter what.” Dolorosa knelt down to straighten his cloak. “You must hold my hand the _whole_ time. Don’t talk to _any_ trolls. And keep your ideas inside your head. You can ask me any questions when we return. Is that clear?”

“Yes.”

Dolorosa sighed. She was terrified that something unforeseen would happen. She slung her bag over her shoulders and took Signless’s tiny hand. Looking down she felt better, his small horns could be passed off as slow youth development. She had used the green of her blood color for the detailing on his clothes. His gill slits weren’t visible through the cloth. She told herself she had done all she could. It would all be ok, it had to be.

She let go of Signless’s hand as he strained forward towards the cave’s entrance. He ran as fast as he could to the vines that had been trained to cover the entrance and pushed them aside, shrieking with delight. _This is why you’re doing this, for him_ , Dolorosa told herself with a smile as she followed her excited charge into the outside world.

Signless was standing in the middle of the clearing. He turned a full circle slowly, taking in all the sights their little part of the world had to offer. Then he started running around. Touching trees, the berry bushes, going in and out of the cave and finally fell on his back and stared at the sky. The full moon hung low and there was not a cloud in sight to cover the stars.

“Wow,” he said as he let out a deep breath.

“It’s certainly something,” Dolorosa admitted, looking up and imagining what it must be like to see the moon and stars for the first time.

“Well we should head out if we want to make it to the village and back before the moon sets.” She picked him up off the ground and dusted him off then laced her fingers with his. They set out with a smile on their faces.

Over the sweeps Dolorosa had found the quickest path to the road carved into the cliff face. Adjusting her pack and squeezing Signless’s hand they started their descent to the village. The trolls they passed nodded to her in greeting. Some did a double take at her tiny shadow who as far as she could tell was trying to disappear into her robes. None questioned them though, a fact she would be eternally grateful for.

Finally they reached the outskirts of the village. Dolorosa squared her shoulders and raised her chin. Looking like you had somewhere to go and would not be stopped no matter what went far in detouring unwanted conversation she had found.

“Just remember; hold my hand, don’t talk, and I’ll answer questions later.” She saw him nod then she strode forward with her little shadow at her side.

They made it to the market place with no one asking after the young troll at her side. The market teemed with life and she could see Signless’s head turning in every direction, trying to take it all in at once. She squeezed his hand hard to remind him to stay with her.

One by one they made their way to various shops, stands, and carts in the market place. Some of the venders looked suspiciously at the troll by her side. She brushed off their stares saying he was hers. They quickly left those vendors.

It was at their final stop, where Dolorosa was trading a pelt for cloth that the situation turned uncomfortable. Dolorosa had been trying to find a way to carry her bag so its strap wouldn’t dig into her shoulder, a task that was proving difficult, when the vender took a hard look at Signless.

“Oi, runt, do your damn job and carry your Mistress’s bag,” said the troll in a gruff voice.

Signless gawked up at the man, head tilted, eyebrows drawn together, and eyes questioning. He then turned his gaze to Dolorosa who looked scandalized that the other troll had said such a thing. Quickly her eyes narrowed and she gazed intently at the olive blooded vendor who shrunk under her glare.

“He will be carrying the cloth that I may not get from your store. As you yourself noticed, he is quite small. I’d rather not have him drop the bag of food and smash it all. In the future refrain from telling your superior how to deal with their servants,” Dolorosa said in a haughty tone.

Signless was still confused as they walked away, cloth in his arms. They had ended up with more than they had wanted for less than the cost of the original amount they wanted. He wasn’t quite sure how that had happened, he would ask Dolorosa when they reached the cave. Looking at their hands he saw how white her hands were. He could feel her shaking through her tight grip but still said nothing.

Their return trip was far quicker. It seemed to Signless that Dolorosa was trying to escape something.

She brushed aside the vines and threw down her bag. She then flopped down onto the tightly woven hammock that served as their bed. Signless folded up the cloth and put in in Dolorosa’s sewing area then crawled in the bed and curled up in Dolorosa’s arms.

He could feel her whole body shaking this time. Sitting up he wiped away the green tear tracks. Dolorosa sat up too and hugged him close and rocked him back and forth, humming a song she couldn’t name.

“What did the troll mean,” whispered Signless in the quiet of the cave. Dolorosa’s breathing being the only sound that echoed off the walls in a shaky rhythm.

“There are…some trolls who, for whatever reason, believe it to be right and acceptable to, to own other trolls and force them to do things against their will,” Dolorosa explained haltingly as she tried to get her breathing under control.

“That troll thought I owned you but I don’t. You are your own troll. You can make your own decisions,” she continued solemnly.  
“Except when you tell me to do my chores and so I can stay safe right?” Signless asked just as solemnly.

“Exactly.”

A grin broke out across Signless’s face. The excitement of the day couldn’t be dampened by one bad moment for the young troll. He skipped over to the bag to start putting things away in their proper spots. Dolorosa watched and marveled at the resilience of youth. 

That was the first day, when he slept, Signless had his first experience with dreams of a different world and splitting migraines that would serve as a single for a new stage in his life. One that would change his and Dolorosa’s lives forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No beta means those lovely grammar errors are all mine. But I don't want them so please tell me when you see them.  
> I would love to get feedback guys. What you like and how I can improve.  
> EDIT ON 1/24/16: I didn't copy in the last bit. Now I have. Enjoy some light angst.


End file.
